If you have an auto loan at a high interest rate - but you want to keep your car - you may be considering paying off your auto loan earlier than the scheduled final payment date.

Making car payments is a drag, but most people have no choice; it's just what one has to do to own a car. However, if you have recently come into some extra money, you may have decided that you can dedicate more of your monthly cash flow to reducing and eventually eliminating your auto loan debt.

Of course, if you have come into a sizable sum of money, you may just be able to pay off your car loan outright. If you don't have quite that much extra but you can afford to make additional payments each month, you will simply make larger monthly payments than required in order to eliminate that debt at a faster rate.

To consider your options intelligently, you are going to want to know what the required sum will be to pay off your loan completely. If you are in the position pay it off 100% right now, just call your lender and ask them for the "payoff balance" (this will be the outstanding principal balance, plus whatever interest has accrued since your last payment).

On the other hand, if you simply plan to make larger payments each month to pay down your loan more quickly, it is a good idea to have an auto loan payoff calculator at your disposal. Before accessing such a calculator, though, it will be important to have certain information ready at your fingertips. Here are 3 such items:

1. Information concerning your existing loan:

You will need to start by readying all of the pertinent information about your existing loan, including the original loan amount (in dollars or pounds), the loan term (in months) and the annual interest rate (a percentage).

2. Number of months remaining:

Next, figure out how many more months remain on your loan.

3. Additional amount you are willing to pay:

Finally, work out just how much extra you will be able to pay each month, in addition to (but not including) your current payment amount.

Now, you are ready to get your hands on an online calculator to figure out how much more quickly you can pay down your car loan, as well as what your savings will be to do so.